Virology

Role of the commission
The Virology Section encompasses a broad variety of interests, ranging from basic research to diagnostic virology and from clinical interest to federal regulation.

The commission of the SSM Virology Section aims to provide a platform:

• for the exchange of news in the field
• for Swiss virologists to facilitate various interactions and collaborations on all levels
• to distribute information concerning fundamental virology, clinical virology and virus diagnostics at Swiss institutions

Activities

The Swiss virology community celebrated the 10th SwissVirology meeting in 2025. The meeting took place in Bern at the Hotel Ambassador from January 28th-29th. The goal of the – by now – traditional SwissVirology meetings is to bring together in Switzerland a maximum number of research groups working in fundamental virology to promote interaction, exchange of ideas, and collaborations in an informal and collegial atmosphere. The SwissVirology Organizing and Scientific Committee with Angela Ciuffi (University of Lausanne), Cornel Fraefel (University of Zurich), Jérôme Gouttenoire (University of Lausanne), Ben Hale (University of Zurich), Grégory Mathez (University of Lausanne), Karin Metzner (University Hospital of Zurich), Philippe Plattet (University of Bern), Mirco Schmolke (University of Geneva), Matthias Schweizer (University of Bern), Caroline Tapparel Vu (University of Geneva), and Volker Thiel (University of Bern), has put together a very interesting program with exciting speakers. The opening Keynote lectures was given by Timothy Tellinghuisen (Roche, Basel), and Gisa Gerold (University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Germany), and invited speakers were Charaf Benarafa (IVI and University of Bern), Daniel Kaufmann (Lausanne University Hospital), Selma Dahmane (University of Basel), Vibhu Prasad (University of Geneva), Aleksandar Antanasijevic (EPFL), Katharine Röltgen (Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute). An exciting closing lecture was given by Urs Greber (University of Zürich). The 10th SwissVirology Meeting was a full success with the highest number of participants, and we look forward to the next meeting in 2027.